Good laptop for engineering student?

[Synaesthesia]

Have to agree on the Thinkpad suggestion. That or a Macbook.

 

[ph4t3]

I've taken a test run on my mate's Dell Studio 1537 and it seems like a pretty decent machine to me. The speakers, however, not that great, but then again, the backlit keyboard is O SO BEAUTIFUL!

Actually, that's a lie. All the big names offer a 3 year warranty as OPTIONAL. Even the Dells. Taking a 1 year warranty instead knocks a good chunk off the price, but I'd never recommend it.

When a configuration is chosen, the warranty is chosen at the same time. So places like Game, Dion-Wired, Incredible, etc, choose what warranty they think a notebook should have. It's really quite silly.

But some places give the standard warranty with the option to upgrade it. That's something worth looking at, if only for peace of mind.

Something people need to realise. Engineering STUDENTS don't render MASSIVE designs and systems. A mid-range Core 2 Duo will handle the projects just fine. If a bigger design comes along, then even the Precision won't be able to do it in a short time. In such cases, the university has facilities for the job; clusters etc.

I contacted the university and they second wat sn3rd said. They also advised me against getting a Precision due to its weight and price etc. It's still early in the year, who knows, maybe something new will pop up.

And thanx for all them advice guys, much appreciated

 

[FuNkEr]

What varsity you going to? I doubt that you will take your laptop to classes, or at least I don't see anyone doing it on campus.. But then again, it might just be us

 

[ph4t3]

Wits, most probably...

 

[ambo]

I doubt that you will take your laptop to classes, or at least I don't see anyone doing it on campus.. But then again, it might just be us

About 90% of my class has laptops and we use them daily - you either at the wrong uni or in the wrong faculty

Wits, most probably...

Which branch you planning to study?

 

[FuNkEr]

I was actually talking of taking the thing with you to class. We (at PUKKE) just take down notes by hand But yeah, there are a lot of peeps with laptops on campus, but not at class. ANYWAY I'm sure you'll enjoy your new toy and strongs for the studies. I actually had some classes (algebra,calculus ect.) with the engineering guys 1st and 2nd year... They're usually on their own planet I will enjoy my actuarial science while you guys build the structures I'll insure one day!

Good luck man!

 

[ph4t3]

About 90% of my class has laptops and we use them daily - you either at the wrong uni or in the wrong faculty
Which branch you planning to study?

B.Sc.(Eng.) Electrical Engineering (Information Eng from 2nd year onwards)...

I was actually talking of taking the thing with you to class. We (at PUKKE) just take down notes by hand But yeah, there are a lot of peeps with laptops on campus, but not at class. ANYWAY I'm sure you'll enjoy your new toy and strongs for the studies. I actually had some classes (algebra,calculus ect.) with the engineering guys 1st and 2nd year... They're usually on their own planet I will enjoy my actuarial science while you guys build the structures I'll insure one day!

Good luck man!

Haha, when i start next year, I'll try and keep to earth

 

[ambo]

B.Sc.(Eng.) Electrical Engineering (Information Eng from 2nd year onwards)...

Good choice

One bit of advice I can give you regarding your laptop:
Don't bother to spend lots of money on it. You are going to spend the first 2-3 years just using it to type stuff - no heavy CPU stuff. Just make sure that its got a decent amount of RAM in it (1-2 GB). If you can - get an extended life battery - power is usually scarce on campus.

 

[dequadin]

I'd also recomened a higer spec'd machine, running any simulations on a sloow machine ins just painfull

 

[taheera]

im looking for some information on what laptop to buy for a student stuyding electrical/computer engineering, hopefully with responses from people actually using those laptops in the engineering field. would this laptop also be fine for chemical engineering. thanks

 

[JayM]

im looking for some information on what laptop to buy for a student stuyding electrical/computer engineering, hopefully with responses from people actually using those laptops in the engineering field. would this laptop also be fine for chemical engineering. thanks

Depends on your budget, but Dell Latitude/Precision or Lenovo Thinkpad T/P series are both good. I use a Thinkpad P1 Gen2, and it's awesome, but will also cost you over R40K.

Make sure to get one with 3Y onsite warranty. If it breaks you don't want to be without a computer for 2-4 weeks.

 

[Barbarian Conan]

im looking for some information on what laptop to buy for a student stuyding electrical/computer engineering, hopefully with responses from people actually using those laptops in the engineering field. would this laptop also be fine for chemical engineering. thanks

I studied that back in the day, with a desktop.
They will mostly work with some sort of emulator writing low level code, Matlab, lots and lots of MS Word/Excel, and maybe even some Visual Studio or other full-fat IDE.
We did some CAD in our first year as well, but that was in the University Lab only.
Most of the interface between the laptop and any electronics they build should be USB A.

None of those are very resource intensive for student work.

I would say:
8Gb RAM minimum, and while it's not necessary at all, but 16GB would be nice.
256GB SSD absolute minimum, 512GB+ preferably.
i5 should be fine if its 10th Gen intel, or i7 if it's 8th Gen. Or get a 4000 series AMD Ryzen laptop if they are out already.
1080p display is a must. 4K is useless on a laptop.

If your laptop allows upgrading the RAM and SSD (which it should), you can go for the low end if money is tight.

I am a fan of Dell laptops, especially the Latitude/Precision/XPS lines. I haven't used the lower end stuff though.

Most of these are wants more than needs. From what I remember, even the slowest PCs could do all the work, it was just sometimes more frustrating working on an older machine.

 

[taheera]

would @conan and @JayM mind saying what kind of engineer they currently are, and @conan what kind of laptop are you currently using?
i have had some other feedback that supports the ram and ssd @conan , but have had feedback also regarding the need for a dedicated graphics card is important, and thus a lot are recommending gaming computers.
i have for now narrowed down to the following (+- R20 000 )
any advice if you have time, which would you pick? or drop ? thanks again.

DELL G5 - 5590

DELL G3-3590

ASUS TUF GAMING FX 505

ACER NITRO 5 I7-9750

 

[JayM]

would @conan and @JayM mind saying what kind of engineer they currently are, and @conan what kind of laptop are you currently using?
i have had some other feedback that supports the ram and ssd @conan , but have had feedback also regarding the need for a dedicated graphics card is important, and thus a lot are recommending gaming computers.
i have for now narrowed down to the following (+- R20 000 )
any advice if you have time, which would you pick? or drop ? thanks again.

DELL G5 - 5590

DELL G3-3590

ASUS TUF GAMING FX 505

ACER NITRO 5 I7-9750

I'm on the networking/ICT side of things, so not an engineer in the traditional sense.

Of those laptops, the G3/G5 would probably be the best. If you want a laptop guaranteed to work properly with CAD/3D rendering software, you need something with a certified video card (not gaming) - i.e. Nvidia Quadro or AMD Firepro. And as mentioned before, forget about anything without an onsite warranty. Gaming laptops generally have poorer build quality and don't survive the rigours of being lugged around on a daily basis.

 

[Pavan]

Perhaps you could try one or two of these models out for a day before deciding on a big purchase? I used Rentoza recently for a similar purpose... Just a thought.

Agree with the comments posted already. I studied electronic engineering and generally speaking, a high spec pc/laptop was not required. I think RAM would be more important than the gfx card for chem eng - especially considering the amount of simulations and modelling embedded in practicals.

 

[phoneJunky]

im looking for some information on what laptop to buy for a student stuyding electrical/computer engineering, hopefully with responses from people actually using those laptops in the engineering field. would this laptop also be fine for chemical engineering. thanks

I am currently using a laptop in this environment. I am using the Dell Latitude series, but I did replace the hard drive to be an SSD which mine wasn't. I think the new ones might have this in already. While this is fine for me, I do a fair bit of simulation which is the most intensive on laptop, I would have preferred the Precision series.

The FEM and Flow simulations that Chemical engineers might use is more processor intensive than what I do. But in electrical there is also more intensive things. Though I am sure mine should handle all of it, I would rather go with the Precision stuff as universities are normally the first to adopt new technologies.

My Asus G56JK were stronger than my laptop then.

would @conan and @JayM mind saying what kind of engineer they currently are, and @conan what kind of laptop are you currently using?
i have had some other feedback that supports the ram and ssd @conan , but have had feedback also regarding the need for a dedicated graphics card is important, and thus a lot are recommending gaming computers.
i have for now narrowed down to the following (+- R20 000 )
any advice if you have time, which would you pick? or drop ? thanks again.

DELL G5 - 5590

DELL G3-3590

ASUS TUF GAMING FX 505

ACER NITRO 5 I7-9750

All of these should be fine. The graphics card is probably for the CAD type stuff, but the highest end gaming laptop might be overkill. Nice, but overkill. After buying higher spec than what was needed I always got buyers remorse.

The people that does FEM or Flow at my work normally takes the Alienware Laptops, but again I think it is overkill.

 

[Barbarian Conan]

would @conan and @JayM mind saying what kind of engineer they currently are, and @conan what kind of laptop are you currently using?
i have had some other feedback that supports the ram and ssd @conan , but have had feedback also regarding the need for a dedicated graphics card is important, and thus a lot are recommending gaming computers.
i have for now narrowed down to the following (+- R20 000 )
any advice if you have time, which would you pick? or drop ? thanks again.

DELL G5 - 5590

DELL G3-3590

ASUS TUF GAMING FX 505

ACER NITRO 5 I7-9750

I went full software engineer and never worked in the E/C field at all. The laptop I have now is a kitted out (and very expensive, I guess just under R50k) Dell Precision, which is overkill for a student. Mine has a Quadro card which is decent for gaming and would work well for CAD etc as well.

I graduated back in 2004, so my knowledge about what people need isn't up to date, but the university will usually send you an informational pack stating what students will need. The 3D CAD stuff is usually expensive and they don't expect students to buy their own copies. Back in my day they didn't have free/cheap student versions of it, but that could have changed.
It could just be that your kid wants to play games as well, and that's fine. It will certainly save money in other ways. I based my advice on the fact that my dad had to take out a personal loan to buy me a PC and studying is expensive, so my original suggestions are for decent value for money with some longevity.

Of those listed, I would go for the G5 for the bigger battery and because I like dell. I Don't know what the plug point in lecture hall situation is like these days, and classes will be pretty much non stop from 8 - 5.
The G3 has a smaller battery, but is slimmer, which is also a consideration.

 

[Barbarian Conan]

I am currently using a laptop in this environment. I am using the Dell Latitude series, but I did replace the hard drive to be an SSD which mine wasn't. I think the new ones might have this in already. While this is fine for me, I do a fair bit of simulation which is the most intensive on laptop, I would have preferred the Precision series.

The FEM and Flow simulations that Chemical engineers might use is more processor intensive than what I do. But in electrical there is also more intensive things. Though I am sure mine should handle all of it, I would rather go with the Precision stuff as universities are normally the first to adopt new technologies.

My Asus G56JK were stronger than my laptop then.



All of these should be fine. The graphics card is probably for the CAD type stuff, but the highest end gaming laptop might be overkill. Nice, but overkill. After buying higher spec than what was needed I always got buyers remorse.

The people that does FEM or Flow at my work normally takes the Alienware Laptops, but again I think it is overkill.

I guess it depends on the university. Back in the day I also didn't know what was really new, and what wasn't.
What I do know, is that the stuff students do are nowhere near what we do in the real world.
They expect you to do projects in the evenings and the once a week 3hr practicals for each subject, as a student who is still inexperienced.
The complexity would probably never reach what you as a professional can do in a week.

Final year project is different though, but it is very dependent on what you choose.

 

[saor]

but have had feedback also regarding the need for a dedicated graphics card is important, and thus a lot are recommending gaming computers.

Find out which few apps you'll be using and read some reviews on their hardware requirements. You'll certainly need a dedicated card (as opposed to onboard graphics) but the days of needing cards with specific architectures (Quadro card vs Geforce) seem to be receding as most apps can utilize a broader range of GPU capabilities and aren't so dependent on specifics.

That said I'd probably still do a CAD build with a quadro or RTX card than a geforce.

 

[phoneJunky]

I guess it depends on the university. Back in the day I also didn't know what was really new, and what wasn't.
What I do know, is that the stuff students do are nowhere near what we do in the real world.
They expect you to do projects in the evenings and the once a week 3hr practicals for each subject, as a student who is still inexperienced.
The complexity would probably never reach what you as a professional can do in a week.

Final year project is different though, but it is very dependent on what you choose.

Yes they don't do things that are as complex, but because the universities get the licenses for much cheaper than businesses they do tend to get the latest stuff. But I think they are also just inclined to look for the newest stuff.

When I started I was used to SVN for software configuration but it only started in my company a few years later and that is free. And now there are probably better things to use and we still use SVN because that is what we are used to. The companies normally try to get the students in university to use there stuff so that they take it into there working environments some day. Most of the companies I know of use Matlab because that is what was used at varsity even though the majority of things can be done in python which is free.